Trouble in paradise as plumbing problems hit Dubai’s Palm island

Residents of the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai’s man-made island that is shaped like a
giant date palm, are being forced to wash in the sea and visit lavatories at
a nearby mall after a water pipe in one its exclusive apartment blocks
ruptured.

Aerial view of 'The Palm' Jumeirah IslandsPhoto: REX FEATURES

By Bonnie Malkin

2:16PM BST 12 Aug 2011

Severe plumbing problems hit the gated, seven-building Oceana complex on Sunday, and so far the property managers have not been able to fix them.

The crisis means that, in temperatures of 107F (42C), Oceana residents have had to endure the ignominy of showering at nearby pools and scrubbing themselves down in the Arabian Gulf. For anyone needing to use the lavatory, there is only one option: public amenities at the local shopping centre.

And management of the Oceana have given no timetable for when the pipes will be fixed.

The dire sanitary situation is a far cry from the glossy images used to sell apartments at the Oceana.

Flats in the complex, which is located on the Palm’s trunk – or Golden Mile -, sell for between £280,000 for a one-bedroom unit and £500,000 for a three bedroom flat.

The company’s website claims that each apartment in the complex provides "spacious layouts, high quality finishes and panoramic views to the garden, beach and marina".

Fortunately, the units are also "within walking distance to the Village Centre Shopping Mall".

While the plumbing problems do not extend to the multi-million pound villas, lavish hotels and apartment blocks on the rest of the Palm, the extravagant project has not been without its own problems.

Stretching almost four miles into the sea and big enough to be seen from space, the Palm’s trunk and 16 fronds, which were constructed from rock and sand dredged from the seabed of the Arabian Gulf, were once some of the most coveted pieces of real estate in the world – especially among Britons, who own about 25 per cent of properties on the island. When the first 2,000 villas and town houses on the island went on sale in 2002, they sold out in a month.

Styled by its owner, the government-backed Nakheel property development company, as the "eighth wonder of the world", the Palm captured worldwide attention when David Beckham, Michael Owen and nine other members of the England squad bought "signature villas" there when they visited Dubai en route to Japan and South Korea’s 2002 World Cup.

But there has been trouble in paradise.

Some of the "Palm pioneers", who were among the first to move onto the island, complained of their expensive villas being squeezed together like sardines, sky-high air-conditioning bills and repeated snags that led some to joke it should be renamed the "eighth blunder" of the world.

Then, during the height of the global financial crisis in 2008, property prices fell by as much as 40 per cent. Villas that had been selling for £1.8 million were suddenly fetching just £1.2m.

The economic turmoil also affected the pace of construction of the artificial archipelago, and two other palms that were being built beside it, setting completion dates back by several years.